Philippe Clement spoke to the media after the win over St Mirren. Here is everything he had to say.

Was that an important time to score the first goal?

It’s always important to score the first goal when you’re trying to break a wall. That’s always the case. Of course you want to do that from the first second which is what we tried. You need to keep the ball tempo high to make an opponent more tired. It’s normal that most of the times that it’s later in the game you get the goal. It was because of the quality of our passing today that we get these chances.

Is that the best goal since you arrived?

If I look back we’ve scored some really nice goals. So it’s difficult to pick this one out. I liked the second one also. It was also a really good pass from Todd.

Do the two assists from Todd justify his selection?

You guy are to decide about that, I already selected him. For me his selection was already assured before. We talked about the game on Thursday and he agreed that he was not doing what he should do. He was frustrated himself about that. So this was the reaction I wanted to see.

Does the No.10 role suit him better?

It’s a team sport. Otherwise we need to become a tennis player or something! You're part of a team, Todd is part of a team. We talked about that. We know it’s a better position for him but we also have to look at the other circumstances with all the injuries. We didn’t have many players available and he did a good job there also. Don’t forget this. Against Sparta Prague he was one of the best players. And he knows that. He stays available to play on the right side or the left side. About that we also had a really clear talk.

Will we see Tom Lawrence in that role moving forward?

I congratulated Tom after the game. It’s not his normal position but I’m looking for solutions with Ryan Jack out, with Nicolas Raskin out and with Cifu coming back from injury. And I was really happy with how Tom performed today. Because of him we could keep a high tempo on the ball and it’s difficult for opponents.

Is there an update on Raskin and Jack?

Ryan Jack will not be so long. Nicolas Raskin will have a new assessment in the beginning of the week because his rehab is not going well. So I’m not so happy about that but it’s the way it is. We need to find other solutions.

What can you tell us about Nils Koppen?

I had been talking with all the candidates together with the members of the board. The first time I talked with Nils we said it was a pity that we missed each other in Genk. We were there six months when I was working with the first team and he was working in the academy. He left after six months and went to PSV and that year we won the championship and he missed the big party! So I didn’t know him before we first talked but of course I took some information from people who worked with him in PSV and Genk. Everybody was really positive.

Are you pleased to have someone in that position?

It’s a very important position. I don’t want to look too much to the past in the last couple of months. I want to look to the future. He’s somebody who knows a lot of players, he has a lot of information and works data-wise really well. He has a lot of experience around that. He’s someone we need in the club to guide our recruitment and to find in this pool the best fish. But we have to really early with that as there are a lot of people in the same pool. We all think in the club that Nils can help with that.

Did Sima need the confidence of a goal?

If you don’t have the confidence you don’t score the goal. So it’s the other way around. I spoke with Abdallah in the last couple of days about being hungry, to be in the box and to score himself. He’s a really nice lad but he’s sometimes not egoistic enough for me to be decisive himself. He always wants to give the last pass to others before he shoots himself.  So I’m really happy that he scored two really good goals. With his pace and power he can hurt a lot of teams and that’s what I want to see in the next couple of months.

Does he need to be more selfish?

Yes, that’s part of the game. But you have to keep a balance. I don’t want players to be shooting from every angle. But in the last few weeks Abdallah was waiting too long to find somebody free and not take his chance to score. But he did that well today.

Is it unlikely that Raskin will be back for the final?

I think the chance is really small for the moment. But I’m not a doctor and I’m for sure not a doctor or a specialist in these things. We will go to the best people to find the best and fastest solution.